Stay of execution: Plaza Hotel auction canceled

Reuben brothers agree to give Sahara more time to sell

The Plaza Hotel (inset from left: Subrata Roy and David Reuben)
The Plaza Hotel (inset from left: Subrata Roy and David Reuben)

All those interested in bidding for The Plaza Hotel at auction may just have to buy it the old fashioned way.

David and Simon Reuben, the billionaire investors who own the debt on the property, agreed to cancel a planned foreclosure auction to allow more time for Subrata Roy’s Sahara India Pariwar, the hotel’s owner, to sell the property and pay back the debt, Crain’s reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Reubens bought the mortgage on the iconic hotel last year after Roy defaulted on it, paying the Bank of China $800 million. That deal also included the notes on two other properties, including Roy’s Dream Downtown hotel in Chelsea.

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The brothers, who are based in Monaco, decided to foreclose last month, and had scheduled an auction for April 26.

The 557,000-square-foot Plaza, located at 768 Fifth Avenue on Central Park, has changed hands several times over the past decades. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump bought it in 1988. He sold it to the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin-Talal, who in turn passed it to the Elad Group, based in Israel.

The property in Question Includes The Plaza’s hotel rooms, restaurants and retail space. [Crain’s]Ariel Stulberg